The present invention is directed to a method and system for providing a user interface representing organization hierarchy that offers a contextual view.
In an information age, more and more data is being collected and stored every second. Satellites orbiting the earth record information and photograph our planet everyday, and they send this information and photographs back to earth. Millions of computers on the Internet collect all types of information, ranging from network usage to marketing data. All types of organizations, large and small, store information such as personnel data, operational costs, etc. New tools are invented to make collecting data easier, faster, and more convenient than ever before.
Data, no matter how it is collected, is only meaningful and useful when organized and stored logically. For example, computers often rely on data structure to store data in predefined fields. For large amounts of data, people usually rely on databases, where structured collections of data and/or records are stored in computer systems in accordance to predefined rules and/or database models.
Relationship models, hierarchical models, and network models, are commonly used database models for representing relationships among records. Typically, databases rely on database software to organize and manage the data and/or records. For example, database software organizes and stores data and/or records using various types of database models.
Graphical user interface (“GUI”) is a helpful tool for displaying data and showing the relationships thereof. Numerous conventional graphical interfaces are capable of displaying records from a database in a hierarchical view. For example, Oracle Corporation offers many software tools for displaying organization charts in a hierarchical view, the organization chart being a representation of data selected from a database.
While a GUI is useful in displaying information, it is often not enough. It is often useful and convenient if a user is able to interact with the information. In the past, various conventional techniques have been developed to allow users to interface with records displayed in a hierarchical chart.
Therefore, a new and improved graphical user interface is desired.